Mazhar Majeed is a small part of a much bigger picture of illegal betting. Photograph: Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP

Reaction to the conviction of three Pakistan cricketers at Southwark crown court has focused on whether it represents a line in the sand or the tip of the iceberg. Many hope it will provide, at the least, a lasting deterrent. But such has been the darkly compelling nature of the human drama on show, and so thorny the moral questions raised by it, that the wider scope of the huge illegal betting market in Asia has remained in the background – as has what to do about it.

It came into focus briefly during the summing-up on Thursday as Mr Justice Cooke accepted the 19-year-old Mohammad Amir had come under pressure from those forces. "The reality of those threats and the strength of the underworld influences who control unlawful betting abroad is shown by the supporting evidence in the bundle of documents, including materials from the Anti Corruption and Security Unit of the ICC," he said .

The case against Mazhar Majeed, Amir, Mohammad Asif and Salman Butt has been gripping. It was a sorry tale of greed, coercion, bundles of cash, frantic telephone calls, bragging and ice cream parlours.

But the obstacles facing any attempt to tackle the problem of endemic corruption on a global scale are manifestly more complex and varied. They include cultural and political considerations, organised crime syndicates that operate across borders and millions of pounds changing hands in seconds. A combination of technological change, globalisation, live TV coverage of even the most obscure sporting events, the ability to bet on a wide range of markets, the ease with which evidence can be destroyed and the difficulty of proving intent have made grappling with the problem akin to juggling jelly.

Interpol estimates that the market for illegal gambling is worth $500bn in Asia alone. Its secretary general, Ron Noble, said this year: "Organised criminals can now engage in systematic fraud, illegal betting and match fixing from anywhere in the world at any given time. We are in dire need of effective collaborative responses by all relevant entities." It is that illegal market that drives the organised crime syndicates who, it has become apparent over the past five years, have driven deep into some sports.

Legitimate bookmakers have been quick to point out that it is largely this huge illegal market that drives the spot and match fixing of the type that Majeed and sections of the Pakistan team boasted about – despite the fact that in the case of the now infamous three no balls no bet was ever placed. But there have also been many examples in recent years, if not of such scale, of legitimate bookmakers being targeted in tennis, horse racing, snooker, football and elsewhere. The International Cricket Council has beefed up its ACSU, set up in the wake of the Hansie Cronje case over a decade ago, and in some ways has been a model for other sports in at least attempting to tackle the problem. But while it can request phone records and other evidence, it does not have the powers of a law enforcement agency and is – for obvious reasons – unable to conduct a sting operation of the kind that cost the News of the World £100,000 in still unrecovered bank notes but landed the now defunct tabloid with a sensational scoop.

The Essex bowler Mervyn Westfield is due in court in January, charged with the same offences as the Pakistan players, but the police seem minded – in the main – to leave it to sport. That may change now that case law is established – but will police forces facing cuts and burdened with ever greater responsibility really want to take on such potentially complex and combustible cases? As such, the onus is on the Gambling Commission to use the powers it has to gather evidence and pass it to sporting bodies.

In May 2010, in his final press conference as head of the ICC's Anti-Corruption and Security Unit, Lord Condon warned that that match fixing would spread "like a rash" if there was any hint of complacency. Yesterday, he said: "I think the most strong message possible should be going out to world cricket. Some of us have been seeing for a number of years that cricket is getting complacent."

Condon, who fought the problem for a decade at the ICC, added: "Cricket has got a massive ongoing problem. The players have got to do more, the ICC has got to do more and national boards have got to do more. Some of the national boards who have not been as strident as they should have been in preventing corruption should do more. If they don't, they should risk exclusion from cricket."

There are warm words from domestic governments, international sports bodies and global law enforcement agencies. But are there the means? The sports minister, Hugh Robertson, said: "At the moment, there is a huge reluctance to set up new bodies to tackle this. They all cost money, cause squabbles and all the rest of it. Domestically, there is a structure to tackle this. Instead of a new body, you need to break down the barriers between the organisations responsible for dealing with all this."

At one end of the telescope, local law enforcement agencies are often reluctant to get involved because of the time, cost and complexity of cases that may well end in high-profile failure. At the other, Interpol has warned of the strong links between illegal gambling and other forms of organised crime and identified the huge sums involved. In between are the sporting bodies, many of which are still not investing enough to meaningfully tackle the problem but are at least making progress in educating athletes.

Robertson takes heart from the fact that the three cricketers and their agent have been convicted and jailed under British law, including one count of cheating under a Gambling Act introduced in 2005. But he, like the Police, acknowledges that those convictions were only possible because of the work of the News of the World.

"If this cloud has any sort of a silver lining it is that they were caught in this country, albeit by a newspaper sting. But they were caught, successfully prosecuted and sentencing. That sends out a pretty powerful message to any sportsman or woman thinking about match fixing," he said. Meanwhile, the International Olympic Committee has set up a high-powered working group to look at possible solutions. Its president, Jacques Rogge, reasons that just as the IOC led the fight against doping when it posed an existential threat to sport, so it had a role in bringing together governments, international sports federations and experts in tackling betting-related corruption.

But there are many who wonder whether the IOC is the best suited body to take on such a role, given that the biggest illicit gambling markets are in professional sport. There have also been concerns that it is proving more a talking shop for the great and the good than a practical attempt to engage with the problem.

The Polish, currently in possession of the European Union presidency, are keen to make progress on the issue at European level. But speaking at a Sport and Recreation Alliance event on the issue last month, the head of the EU's sport unit Michal Krejza was lukewarm about what sort of role – if any – it could reasonably take on.

On a domestic level, police can still be reluctant to take on cases of apparent fixing unless there is cast-iron evidence. Meanwhile, on a global scale the issues remain so large and complex that they may be beyond even national governments.

There is tacit acknowledgement that unless governments in India and elsewhere take practical steps to move towards regulated betting markets – and they show no sign of doing do so – then the problem will remain intractable. The sight of three international cricketers heading for custody may act as a deterrent to some, but not all – particularly if there is coercion involved. In the meantime, all Robertson can do is back the IOC as the right organisation to take a lead on a global level.

"This is a good initiative, it's worth supporting and it highlights the issue. But we all know, set against that, this is something that takes place in the main on unregulated betting markets over which we have little influence. That is the challenge. You've got to legalise the market and then enforce the laws. For cultural reasons, it's very difficult to get some countries to take that step. You just hope that through things like today, people realise this is a serious problem and do something about it. But I accept that isn't a wholly satisfactory answer."